


Adrift on the tides

by charons_boat



Category: NCT (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Ghost Drifting, M/M, Mentioned Kim Kibum | Key, Multi, Pacific Rim AU, Pre-Established Relationship, Rangers, i took many liberties, mysterious persons, time loops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28421106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charons_boat/pseuds/charons_boat
Summary: Kevin is stuck in a loop. He tries to break it.
Relationships: Moon Hyungseo | Kevin/Suh Youngho | Johnny/Moon Taeil, Suh Youngho | Johnny/Moon Taeil
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: WIP OLYMPICS: WINTER 2020/21





	Adrift on the tides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NcityStories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NcityStories/gifts).



> for callie, prompted in [this tweet](https://twitter.com/sunwooseok_/status/1344092959948431360)! if you'd like to prompt something as well, reply to the tweet! also i've never seen pac rim so.
> 
> 24 [PACIFIC RIM AU], Y ["IT'S JUST BLOOD. IT'LL WASH OUT."], JOHNNY/TAEIL/KEVIN

"I... can't recall where I'm from, actually. I just remember a storm, drifting, and then..."

"Drifting? You've drifted before?" That's Taeil, I remember. His fiery red hair contrasts his gentle eyes. He's a lot shorter than Johnny, the one who'd pulled me from the grasping sand of the shoreline.

"He means floating in the ocean, 'il," Johnny says, his voice deeper and softer. I'd thought, from looking at them, that Taeil would be quieter.

"Yeah," I murmur. "I was floating during the storm, and then you found me in the sand and got Johnny to pull me out." Johnny nods seriously, his chin-length blond hair falling over his face before he pushes off the wall and moves closer.

"Well, the doc's think you've got amnesia, which. The blood work all came back fairly normal except for a few abnormalities that... they're still trying to figure out. Nothing too serious, I think. They're just trying to figure out what to do with you, y'know?" I nod quietly.

"What do you guys do?" Taeil smiles at Johnny, something sharp and proud, before leaning close to me and hiding his mouth behind one of his little hands.

His whisper has a conspiratorial edge to it when he says, "We're Rangers. We pilot those giant robots; you can see them out the window to your left." Taeil points helpfully, and while I'm sure that he can see them, my vision is sort of extremely blurry. I squint, trying to merge all the weird, fuzzy edges together, but it only gives me a headache.

"They're called Jaegers. Taeil, I'm not sure his eyesight is as good as yours. And, yes, I do know it kind of sucks, but the medical analysis did show he might have some brain damage. His eyesight also might've been affected by the seawater," Johnny says quietly, ever the thoughtful one. He turns to me again, a slow smile taking over his face. "The doc's'll come in with a scanner to get you some glasses, contacts, or implants. We can show you the Jaegers after that..." He trails off, staring out the window. His smile dims a bit as he gets lost in thought. He turns back with a curious glint to his eyes. "Y'know, we never got your name."

"Ah... it's Kevin. Kevin Moon." Taeil shoots up from where he'd wandered to the Jaeger window and whips around to stare at me, a big, radiant, stupid grin on his face.

"That's my name! Moon. Moon Taeil," he says proudly, a giddy laugh echoing around the room.

"And Johnny Suh," I murmur quietly. The both freeze and stare at me, shock running rampant across their faces.

"You just--"

"Kevin, where did you learn that?" I stare out the Jaeger window for a while, the colors and shapes still blurred together. Eventually, I look to them and murmur, "I drifted."

* * *

  
I get glasses when the doctors come in and inform me that my eyesight is absolutely horrendous, and Taeil calls me old fashioned. Johnny says they suit me. They show me the Jaegers, proudly pointing out their own, a massive, sleek construction of crimson and gold. The stationary robot holds a slender-bladed saber in one hand and a flail in the other, the chain so long that the spiked ball on the end is nearly hidden amongst the winding, pooled-up links.

"That our Lunareta," Taeil says proudly as we walk away from it, towards an office with a wide-open door. A near-tangible warmth spills from it, washing me in joy. Johnny wears a fond smile on his full lips. We walk into the office, Johnny ushering me in quietly, and we take a seat in front of a dark-eyed man with messy black hair. "Mr. Key, this is Kevin Moon. You heard how he was found on the beach?" The man smiles and nods before turning his gaze to me.

"I'm Kim Kibum, but, as you can probably tell, most of the Rangers like to call me Key. I'll go ahead and assume that Johnny and Taeil didn't tell you why you're here; I asked them to bring you to my office so we can test a few of the peculiarities in your blood work." Johnny steps forward as the noiret begins to stand.

"Actually, Kibum, I think we've already partially cleared that up." Kibum lifts a brow and leans forward, resting his weight on his desk. "He ghost drifted with Taeil. It's the only way he could've learned what I said to Taeil when we met." The man smiles, satisfied. He looks to me again.

"You probably don't understand why that's important or what it is. The oddities of your blood led us to a few inferences. One, that you might be drift compatible with someone in the area. Two, that you might be something unnatural. Seeing as you've ghost drifted with Taeil, it seems unlikely that you're as we suspected."

"You suspect I'm... one of the things you fight?" All three men look surprised, and the noiret shifts quickly into suspicious. I look to Johnny and borrow his words. He must've been in the program before Taeil, for he'd been explaining the same thing to Taeil. "It's the Kaiju we fight, 'il. That's why the Jaegers are made. You said you lived farther inland, right?" A pause in the memory, one I leave for a younger Taeil to answer. "Then you must not have heard much about the Kaiju. They're... monsters that come from the sea. Not of this world, not in the way we are. Although, they're more of this world than whatever place those who made them are from. I doubt if many of them have even seen wherever that is."

"Strange. We must run more tests." It's the last thing he says before everything becomes a blur of motion and activity. I can barely recall what happens for quite a while, just because there's so much happening all at once. The main point of it is this: I'm somehow perfectly drift compatible to both Taeil and Johnny, and so Lunareta goes under reconstruction to allow for a third. It is a massive bow that occupies the two new arms stacked atop the saber and flail, the arrows massive, slim things that end in barbed points. It all goes quite well until...

Until the first Kaiju we're sent to fight as a trio refuses to defend itself, until another sneaks up and rips me from the Jaeger, until it drags me through the rift. When I wash back upon the shore, this time, I remember. Johnny and Taeil find me again, in the same way as last time; it's the same day, even. I explain it all to them when they bring me to Kibum's office, explain the subdued blood in my veins, and we begin to plan. This time the bow-armed limbs rotate around to catch the second Kaiju before it can spear the metal and drag me away once more. A third crushes the metal exterior against my side, and we come out of the Jaeger to find me wounded apart from all the others. Taeil and Johnny fuss terribly, but I smile at them, soothing away the worry.

"It's only blood, boys. It'll wash out."


End file.
